Import/export HS code 9013: Lasers and optical devices

Lasers (except laser diodes) and other optical tools not listed elsewhere

Why this is important if you are looking for potential customers in the UK:

  • It helps you understand the market size for your product in the UK.
  • It provides you with a list of potential leads who have bought similar products.

* UK only, last 24 months analysed

Imports by country

What this shows: Import market volume by exporter country into the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
United States 157,806,847
Germany 154,701,786
France 46,052,731
China 36,937,367
Sri Lanka 29,182,536

Countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month volume, right side by second 12-month volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United States 76,525,549 81,281,298 +4,755,749
Germany 83,717,979 70,983,807 -12,734,172
France 32,836,195 13,216,536 -19,619,659
China 18,504,623 18,432,744 -71,879
Sri Lanka 14,065,506 15,117,030 +1,051,524
Israel 17,912,253 9,198,733 -8,713,520
Malaysia 11,759,522 13,845,119 +2,085,597
Netherlands 9,913,227 12,406,905 +2,493,678
Thailand 9,415,512 8,431,073 -984,439
Canada 7,072,796 7,951,227 +878,431

Imports by country of origin

What this shows: Import volume by production origin country. Differences from exporter-country data can indicate re-export routes.

Top 5 values

Origin £
United Kingdom 130,386,017
United States 108,179,503
Germany 103,982,357
China 46,629,557
France 38,628,326

Country of origin rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United Kingdom 71,799,425 58,586,592 -13,212,833
United States 57,490,336 50,689,167 -6,801,169
Germany 55,316,530 48,665,827 -6,650,703
China 24,135,399 22,494,158 -1,641,241
France 28,087,345 10,540,981 -17,546,364
Canada 8,314,232 25,058,044 +16,743,812
Sri Lanka 14,191,378 16,522,079 +2,330,701
Israel 17,815,705 8,846,103 -8,969,602
Thailand 12,226,339 13,282,363 +1,056,024
Malaysia 11,602,765 13,361,877 +1,759,112

Importers across UK regions

What this shows: Number of importing companies by UK ITL2 region.

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 176
Inner London - West 120
Surrey, East and West Sussex 96
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 76
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 71

UK regions rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: UK regions are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month importer count, right side by second 12-month importer count, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

UK region First 12m Second 12m Delta
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 120 127 +7
Inner London - West 86 73 -13
Surrey, East and West Sussex 69 66 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 60 45 -15
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 56 44 -12
Greater Manchester 50 38 -12
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 47 48 +1
Outer London - West and North West 44 40 -4
West Midlands 45 41 -4
Essex 36 32 -4

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 491,459,772
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 113,163,639
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 58,758,866
Road transport 1,596,390
Other 1,545,286

Transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Air transport 245,962,913 245,496,859 -466,054
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 70,308,025 42,855,614 -27,452,411
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 32,777,199 25,981,667 -6,795,532
Road transport 737,544 858,846 +121,302
Other 786,367 758,919 -27,448

Import volume by port

What this shows: Import value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 174,229,832
East Midlands Airport 106,744,070
London Stansted Airport 81,831,535
Dover 50,440,725
Glasgow Airport 49,317,190

Port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
London Heathrow Airport 88,740,026 85,489,806 -3,250,220
East Midlands Airport 52,550,600 54,193,470 +1,642,870
London Stansted Airport 44,290,673 37,540,862 -6,749,811
Dover 29,533,941 20,906,784 -8,627,157
Glasgow Airport 29,056,048 20,261,142 -8,794,906
Eurotunnel 31,623,193 13,906,009 -17,717,184
Birmingham Airport 18,337,058 23,667,994 +5,330,936
Thamesport 16,189,248 11,510,162 -4,679,086
Edinburgh Airport 5,976,347 8,534,984 +2,558,637
London Gateway Port 7,019,916 6,102,426 -917,490

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 353
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 210
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 174
Other manufacturing 124
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 111

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 263
2025-11 286
2025-10 311
2025-09 292
2025-08 311

Top importers

What this shows: Companies with the highest number of months traded for this HS code.

Importer company size by revenue band

What this shows: Distribution of importers across company revenue bands.

Top 5 values

Revenue Companies
1m-15m 642
54m+ 580
0-1m 215
15m-54m 178
Other 108

Import seasonality

What this shows: Average monthly import pattern from historical data.

Exports by country

What this shows: Export market volume by destination country from the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
United States 282,467,398
Germany 157,233,704
China 87,313,631
France 59,377,353
South Korea 58,111,300

Export countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Destination countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export volume, right side by second 12-month export volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United States 150,314,833 132,152,565 -18,162,268
Germany 81,064,459 76,169,245 -4,895,214
China 40,377,485 46,936,146 +6,558,661
France 27,951,240 31,426,113 +3,474,873
South Korea 27,512,150 30,599,150 +3,087,000
Japan 19,001,225 18,129,748 -871,477
Netherlands 13,444,174 10,575,386 -2,868,788
Italy 11,848,437 10,901,748 -946,689
Canada 9,173,669 8,687,176 -486,493
Spain 6,234,246 7,747,400 +1,513,154

Exports by country of origin

What this shows: Export volume by production origin country. For re-exports, indicates where goods originated before UK export.

Top 5 values

Origin £
Nicaragua 300,211
China 8,211
Ireland 475
Germany 256
Spain 88

Export origin countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Nicaragua 294,942 5,269 -289,673
China 6,657 1,554 -5,103
Ireland 96 379 +283
Germany 256 0 -256
Spain 28 60 +32
Czechia 0 47 +47
Belgium 0 32 +32

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 740,887,162
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 172,554,857
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,312,933
Road transport 992,710
Other 310,058

Export transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Air transport 390,523,946 350,363,216 -40,160,730
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 80,081,246 92,473,611 +12,392,365
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,470,152 1,842,781 -1,627,371
Road transport 873,527 119,183 -754,344
Other 301,979 8,079 -293,900

Export volume by port

What this shows: Export value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 265,273,821
Glasgow Airport 186,731,088
Dover / Eurotunnel 155,920,186
East Midlands Airport 94,144,266
ZLC 81,920,425

Export port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
London Heathrow Airport 108,106,590 157,167,231 +49,060,641
Glasgow Airport 101,206,856 85,524,232 -15,682,624
Dover / Eurotunnel 72,723,397 83,196,789 +10,473,392
East Midlands Airport 57,461,778 36,682,488 -20,779,290
ZLC 54,531,113 27,389,312 -27,141,801
London Stansted Airport 27,181,928 29,645,657 +2,463,729
Manchester Airport 36,418,778 6,077,789 -30,340,989
Dover 2,637,050 4,782,355 +2,145,305
Hull 2,635,054 2,981,949 +346,895
Edinburgh Airport 1,094,809 4,140,095 +3,045,286

Related HS codes

What this shows: Sibling or child HS codes in the same classification branch.

Quick facts

HS code: 9013

Coverage: United Kingdom, most metrics for the last 24 months

Description: Lasers (except laser diodes) and other optical tools not listed elsewhere